The US Navy We hear the most about our aircraft carriers when we talk about navy ships. I guess this is because they are the biggest and most impressive, but did you know we have another class of ships which planes can also be launched off of. It is slightly smaller and doesn’t hold as many planes as an aircraft carrier but they are also big and hold 1055 officers and crew and hold 1687 marines and sometimes more. That is a big ship. The ship is said to be an amphibious assault ship. It can handle a variety of planes such as the F-35B, Harrier II, Osprey and many other types of planes. It can hold 20 F-35Bs and two others. Some say in a pinch the ship can hold 25 F-35Bs. It reminds me of the Jeep carriers in World War Two which were small aircraft carriers. The newest type of this class of ship is the USS America. The initial program to build three of these ships costs slightly over 10 billion dollars. The government is going to build eleven of these ships. The ships are going to be strengthened against attacks, but how seems to be a secret and I can understand that. The ship is about the size of the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and some other country’s aircraft carriers. It is 844 feet long, 106 feet wide and weighs in at 44971 long tons empty. Essentially if we get the 11 new ships this will certainly increase our air capability. Here is a comparison between the Gerald Ford Aircraft carrier and the USS America. The Gerald Ford cost 12.8 billion to build and another 4.7 billion for research. The Ford is 1106 feet long. This makes it about 20 percent longer. Its width is 134 feet while the USS America is 28 feet narrower. Its weight is about 100,999 long tons under full load while the USS America is only 45,593 long tons under full load which means the USS America can only hold less than half as much. There is also a big speed difference in the admitted speed of the two ships. The Gerald Ford has an admitted speed of 30 knots while the America tops out at 20 knots. Then there is the ability to hold planes. The Gerald Ford admits to the ability to hold more than 75 planes vs the 25 maximum for the America. All this brings a question to my mind. Would we be batter off having a lot more smaller carriers of the America type and doing away with the hulking carriers like the Gerald Ford? Three of the smaller carriers can handle about the same number of planes, but here is the rub. There are other planes, bigger planes on a full sized carrier. Take the Hawkeye for example. These planes are planes which direct the fighter planes by utilizing their advanced radar and other sensors. It doesn’t look like the USS America could carry one. An interesting note about the ship’s designation of LHA. The LHA stands for landing helicopter assault and yet they carry fighter planes. While many claim there are well over 460 ships in the US Navy, the navy on its own page claims 280 ships. I think the difference is when you count the reserve fleet it brings the count up to exactly 490. This number also includes what is known as the Military Sealift Command or MSC. The command controls the replenishment of military transport ships and provides transportation. Many of the ships are US Navy ships but some are chartered. Many navy ships today carry at least a helicopter or two. The US Army has teamed up with the US Navy in the past to practice taking care of threats by sea. The army sent Apache helicopters and pilots to the navy. The Apache is a lethal weapon which can destroy armored targets using a 30 mm automatic gun, rockets and Hellfire missiles. Perhaps the navy may decide to order some Apache helicopters for its own use. Many of the navy ships have a helicopter landing pad and some even have hangers on deck. The US Navy’s fleet consists of Aircraft Carriers, Nuclear Submarines, Cruisers, Destroyers, Littoral Combat Ships, Mine Counter-Measure Ships, Patrol Ships and Transport Ships. There are also floating dock and sea base ships The navy also has a technical research ship. The US Navy has Supply-class fast combat support ships, surveillance ships, dry cargo ships, regular cargo ships, missile range ships, hospital ships, replenishment oilers, ocean going tugs, survey ships, and a cable ship. There are further differences in some of the categories of ships. Nuclear submarines come in two flavors. The first is a ballistic submarine and the second is an attack submarine. Soon some of the new quiet diesel submarines might be added. We seem to have everything covered, but in this time with fast changing electronics and components our ships could age even faster. Many times, an overhaul and update would be enough but the expense is incredible. When the USS Fitzgerald, a destroyer was damaged by a collision it was decided to get it repaired and give it an engineering upgrade. It was in dry dock for over a year and cost 327 million dollars to repair and upgrade. Yes, I realize the ship was damaged, I am just using this as an example of the high prices. The navy gave a figure of 220 million dollars as the average cost to modernize a cruiser and 190 million dollars for a destroyer. This was in 2010 dollars. By 2014 the price for a cruiser went to 350 million dollars. Some navy officers who should know are saying it is very hard to upgrade US Navy ships. On the bright side, it is being said newer ships are being built with this in mind and will be much easier to upgrade than the current ones. The reason they are so hard to upgrade is said to be because the older ships were built with the idea, they had to pack maximum capability and survivability into the small space on the ship. It is being said the new ships will have flexibility as their main goal. I don’t think I would like to hear that if I was a crew member, but on the other hand maybe flexibility will also save the ship. The US Navy is the most powerful in the world. It might be outnumbered by the Chinese lately, but each one of our ships is far more capable than the equivalent of theirs.
|
